Latino Daily News

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony and his foundation opened a fifth basketball court over the weekend in Puerto Rico to give poor kids a place to play.

“I want to thank the community for having brought me here again to do something positive for the kids and the community,” Anthony said during the “A Very Melo Weekend” event on Sunday.

The basketball court is not finished, but the foundation will complete the project soon, Anthony said.

“What I want to ask is that you take care of the court, which I have given from the bottom of my heart,” the NBA star, who arrived at the event with several relatives, said.

Anthony was accompanied at the event by Knicks teammate J. R. Smith.

The 30-year-old Anthony and his foundation previously opened community basketball courts in Old San Juan’s La Perla neighborhood in 2010, the Lomas de Luquillo district in 2011 and Magnolia Gardens in Bayamon, a city outside the capital, in 2012.

The NBA star opened a basketball court in Extension Ciudad del Lago in Trujillo Alto, a city in the San Juan metro area, last year.

Anthony, a two-time Olympic champion, said in the past that his goal was to work with the foundation “to help communities.”

The NBA star participated in a series of events, including a golf tournament last Friday at the Bahia Beach Golf Course at the St. Regis Hotel in Rio Grande, organized by his foundation over the weekend

Anthony also watched boxing and played in a softball game on Saturday that featured retired Puerto Rican sports stars, such as former New York Yankees player Bernie Williams.